Two paintings by Claude Monet, kept away from the public eye for over a century, return to the market in a rare appearance at the Paris auction.
How did Monet’s lost paintings resurface?
In the spring of 1883, Claude Monet moved to Giverny, the rural village where he would live for the last forty years. Here he deepened his dialogue with the Seine, working on a boat-studio that allowed him extremely mobile and free plein air painting.
Among the first recurring subjects were the wooded islands in the middle of the river, opposite Giverny. Monet painted them several times, with masses of speckled green emerging from the still waters. One of these river views now reappears at Sotheby’s Paris, in April, after being in a private collection for 115 years.
It is Les Îles de Port-Villez (1883), a work previously known only through a black and white photograph from the 1950s. The painting shows an untouched river landscape, devoid of human figures, where the eye immediately captures the rapidity of the pictorial gesture executed from the boat.
What makes Les Îles de Port-Villez special?
The focus of the composition is the tree-covered island and its reflection, constructed by Monet with broad and dynamic brushstrokes, in shades of greens and blues. The sky, soft and light, appears almost a secondary element compared to the central vegetative mass.
«Monet is like an explorer arriving in a new world and uses the boat to be as free as possible», observes Thomas Bompard, co-head of modern and contemporary art at Sotheby’s Paris. According to the curator, the painter consciously chooses which portion of the landscape to represent, avoiding pre-established impressionist codes.
In this canvas, Bompard continues, the traits that anticipate Monet’s final obsession with water lilies emerge in nuce: dense color, energetic technique, intensity of gaze on the water. The work is estimated between 3 and 5 million euros (3.5-5.8 million dollars), and was last exhibited in the early 1900s at Paul Durand-Ruel‘s gallery on Fifth Avenue.
What is the collecting history and market value?
Durand-Ruel was among the first and most tenacious supporters of Monet. He even lent him 20,000 francs (about 130,000 current dollars) to purchase, in 1890, the two-story house in Giverny destined to become his famous creative refuge. Since then, the painting entered a private collection, where it has remained until today.
After the news of the auctioning of Les Îles de Port-Villez began circulating among French collectors in January, another long-held Monet canvas in private hands emerged. This too will be offered in Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Sale on April 16.
What does Vétueil, Effet du Matin represent?
The second painting is Vétueil, Effet du Matin (1901), an almost pointillist view of a valley well known to the painter. The work depicts the village of Vétheuil seen from the other bank of the Seine and is estimated between 6 and 8 million euros (6.9-9.2 million dollars).
According to Bompard, the two paintings constitute the most precious core of Monet’s works to appear on the French market since 2001. They also allow a direct comparison between two very different phases of his journey, 18 years apart and a wide bend of the river.
In 1901, in fact, the painter’s situation had radically changed. Monet was now famous and economically stable. Even the means of transportation had evolved: having abandoned the boat-studio, he traveled by car with a driver, a Panhard & Levassor, then among the fastest models on four wheels.
How does Monet’s landscape change between the 19th and 20th centuries?
The car allowed him to broaden his view of the territory, but also to escape the heat of the summer of 1901, moving to Lavacourt. Here he rented a house overlooking the Seine, in an elevated position, from which he painted the river scene of Vétheuil throughout the season.
Compared to the views of Port-Villez from the 1880s, the compositions of this period are broader. Monet includes variations of sky, tones of cultivated fields, and, as always, the changing effects of light on the water. In Vétueil, minute details can also be seen, such as the oars of the boatman or the gardens of the inhabitants.
In Lavacourt, the artist abandons the first execution, typical of Les Îles de Port-Villez. Instead, he works on multiple canvases in parallel, modifying them according to the light and mood. Vétueil, Effet du Matin is the second in a series of 15 paintings dedicated to the same subject.
What is the critical judgment on this series?
Bompard describes the sequence as a true pictorial exercise, in which the latest versions are deeper and richer, but less precise. The canvas proposed by Sotheby’s appears to him as the point of balance between atmospheric rendering and detail definition, qualities that make it particularly appealing to international collectors.
To delve into Monet’s production in these years, the resources of the Musée de l’Orangerie and the catalog studies of the Metropolitan Museum of Art remain fundamental, documenting the evolution of his visual language.
How do these works compare to Monet’s auction records?
The absolute record for a Monet painting at auction is 111 million dollars, paid in 2019 by Sotheby’s New York for the haystack Meules (1890). Another haystack from the same year was sold by Christie’s New York in 2016 for 81.4 million dollars.
The famous late canvases with water lilies occupy five of the top ten places among Monet’s auction results. Among these, Nymphéas en fleur (1914-1917) reached 84.5 million dollars at Christie’s New York in 2018, confirming the strength of the later segment of his production.
The views of Port-Villez from the 1880s are instead very rare on the market, as they are largely kept in museums. In this context, the two works now resurfacing in France assume particular weight for those following the international art market.
What are the prospects for the Paris sale?
The auction passages of Vétheuil paintings offer some indication. In 2025, a painting with the same subject was sold by Christie’s New York for 3.2 million dollars, exceeding a low estimate of 1.8 million. In comparison, Sotheby’s estimates in Paris suggest significantly higher expectations for the April event.
According to Bompard, the combination of impeccable conservation status, long absence from the market, and pictorial quality makes these works an exceptional opportunity. As the curator recalls, «for a collector to be able to compete for a great Monet in perfect condition and invisible for a century is something that almost no longer exists».
Overall, the double appearance of Les Îles de Port-Villez and Vétueil, Effet du Matin confirms how the demand for historically sourced impressionist masterpieces remains solid, and offers the French market a rare moment of centrality.
Image: Claude Monet, Les Îles de Port-Villez (c. 1883). Photo courtesy Sotheby’s Paris.
As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Cryptonomist and Econique.
She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.
